Dates of Exhibition: May 17-24, 2025

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India will be participating in the global exhibition, Botanical Art Worldwide 2025 (BAWW 2025). Over thirty countries are expected to be a part of BAWW 2025, and our inclusion will be India’s first country-level participation in a global contemporary botanical art event!

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This is the second edition of BAWW, the first having taken place in 2018, with 25 countries participating. BAWW is an initiative by the American Society of Botanical Art (ASBA) to build partnerships and associations between artists, institutions, scientists, and the public across the world and to raise awareness about botanical art.  

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The theme of this exhibition is Crop Diversity. BAWW has decided that “the second Botanical Art Worldwide Project will focus on and celebrate biodiversity in the crops that have been closely associated with the human species over thousands of years. The theme is designed to draw attention to the vast variety of food and useful plants available, in contrast with the relatively few varieties currently used in mass cultivation. Plants eligible for inclusion are those cultivated for food, textiles, building, energy, and medicine. Currently, many heritage species and varieties are only cultivated in small quantities by specialist growers on a limited scale. It is vital to promote this genetic diversity in a world challenged by a growing population, changing climate, and habitat losses.”

 

Eligible Subjects:

• Heritage Crops, that is, crops that are not used in modern, large-scale monocultural agriculture. Crops chosen should have been in cultivation for a minimum of 50 years. This includes, for example, anything grown for food on your table, from rice or millet to potatoes, tomatoes, and brinjal; beverages like tea and coffee; and spices like saffron, vanilla, and allspice. Heritage crops cultivated for energy, clothing, shelter, and medicine are also eligible. This includes early progenitors of utilitarian species, such as cotton, flax, and linseed.

 

• Crop Wild Relatives, that is, wild species that can be hybridized with cultivated crops to impart new characteristics to the cultivated crop such as increased resistance to disease. Other wild plants could include those edibles that are foraged by local communities. More than a third of wild fruit and veg relatives require urgent conservation according to the Crop Trust. 

 

• Ancient Crops, which refers to crops that have been cultivated for hundreds or thousands of years in the same form, for example, certain varieties of grain and legume. This category often includes foods cultivated, gathered, or selected by tribal communities, such as tubers, amaranth, and gourds.